It's probably not the perfect time to be blogging about beaches, but I thought I had to sometime. Since I can't sleep I will now. Hah.
The first two times I've been to Australia, the only beaches I've seen were 2 of the most popular ones, which are Bondi Beach and of course the Gold Coast. Below is my photograph of Bondi from 2009
And this was from 2008:
Bondi is such a nice place to go to as it is close to the shops and there are a lot of food options and of course, lots of girls and boys to watch all day. But if you actually want to absorb the scenery and feel the serene ebb and flow of the ocean waters, I reckon it would be best to go to Palm Beach. It is about an hour drive from the city, and it is not crowded at all. Here is a photo from when I went around last month:
(In photo: my friend Cecile taking photos! LOL)
My experience of Palm Beach was pretty good - it was quite a drive from where I live and upon getting there you can see that it really is a place to unwind. It's also close to Whale Beach, which, unfortunately, I haven't been to yet. We tried walking it through the cliffs but the rocks just got really sharp and the tide was getting high so we decided to walk back probably less than halfway to it.
Most recently, I've been to Manly Beach, which is probably my favourite one so far. It is crowded as there are lots of tourists that visit, and it's a pretty commercial area. It seems a little bit like Gold Coast, but it is smaller and it's a little bit more peaceful, I suppose. I reckon the most fun way to get to Manly is to take a ferry from the Circular Quay, which now costs $12.80 for a return ticket. The trip is about half an hour long and note that the gates close 2 minutes before it actually departs! I'm emphasising that because my friend and I got left behind just because we got chips&wedges 5minutes before the ferry's departure and had to wait another half an hour. Hahaha.
This is the walk towards the beach, where the shops and food places are at:
And this is the actual beach:
(In photo: my friends Brenda & Nadine getting splashed really hard by the waves)
We've discovered as well that there is a scenic walk in Manly, and a calmer (but deeper) beach called Cabbage Tree Bay Reserve (will have to double check that name). We went for a swim there as well and it was pretty good. The water was freezing but it was okay because there wasn't a strong current pulling us in. It looks like this:
There is also Bronte Beach that is about a half an hour drive from the city (if you know your way) but I haven't got any photo of it. It is nice because there are grounds for picnics and a barbeque. We went there last week, but we arrived late and so it was too dark to take actual beach photos.
So far those are the beaches I've been to this year (and when I say I've been to it means I stayed there for a day and not just drove by because I've seen most of the beaches along the coast but never actually got to stop and enjoy it), and all I can say is that I'm sure there's so much more to see and I can't wait for our next beach adventure! ;-)
